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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Pens and pencils

Last week I got some new toys, a set of Copic multiliners. Drawing with pens is something I've been meaning to tackle for a while now, now I can have a crack at it with some decent pens rather than any old biro which has been the limit of my ink drawing equipment up till now.

Here's a few birds drawn with these, I'm rather enjoying drawing in ink, an interesting discipline.

In the last few days I've also made a start on doing some work based on my Antarctic trip, I'm planning quite a body of work on this subject so these graphite drawings are going to be the first of many.

As I was surfing the net I came upon your blog and found such beautiful masterpieces! I'd like to start drawing with ink and pens too and so I was wondering if you could give me some advices according to the materials; the technique will develop little by little, I hope :)

Thank you Velentina. Materials aren't too critical, there are artists out there who achieve beautiful works using just ordinary ballpoint pens. Having said that good pens make for a more rewarding experience, any artist quality felt tips (like copic multiliners) are great, don't be tempted by stylographic pens (they're technical drawing pens with a metal nib, very good for what they're designed to do but horrible for artistic work). Any smooth cartridge paper is fine for ink drawing.As far as tecnhinque goes patience is the key, unlike with graphite you cannot blend, smudge or erase nor can you make a graduated tone. All shading has to be achieved with hatching and you cannot correct any mistakes so just take it very slow and deliberate until you build up your confidence and technique.